Ben Wickham's Rockin' Roth Update #1

Having introduced Ben Wickham HERE, let’s crack straight on with his first update on the Rockin’ Roth road to Challenge Roth 2017 on Sunday 9th July

May 29th Week One (5 weeks to go)

No one really tells you what it feels like to train for an iron-distance race.

In truth it doesn’t even seem that hard when you start. A long ride with mates, a few more lengths in the pool. Maybe a long-ish run here and there. But before you know it you end up doing something at the weekend that makes other people think you’ve taken leave of your senses. So it was when I found myself yesterday heading out on the Tour De Essex (long route, 110 miles), after having set up my running kit, ready to carry on this insanely long day out when I finally returned.

But let’s back up a bit. How did we get here? I used to consider myself a runner, but I enjoyed being on my bike and swimming too much, so after a couple of years of training for Olympic and Sprint distance (qualifying for Chicago and Cozumel Worlds by the steepest of roll-downs), my coach kindly suggested I was better at longer distances (he was, in truth, more direct about my abilities, but I’ll spare you the language). So I jumped in with both feet, and set my alarm to log on the instant Challenge Roth 2017 entries opened.

Roth: sells out in 8 minutes… Solar Hill… Chrissie… Jan…
If you’re going do something, let’s do it big.

And now we’re five weeks away. I’ve never done anything quite this long before, so I want your advice, I want your stories and I want you along for the ride. If nothing else I want you have laugh with me, and quite probably at me.

I’ll be here every week, and you can follow the journey at the links below, so please say hello, and join the chat.